Metals prices stay high

Precious metals hovered around long-term highs again on Tuesday. Silver returned to $10.92 per troy ounce, its high point on Monday, before retreating a bit to $10.89 by late afternoon in London. Gold hit $569.10 per troy ounce, a three-week high, before easing to $567.60/$568.50 late in the day. Platinum traded at $1,0170 during the day, near its 25-year high of $1,083.

Base metals were up on the day, as well. Aluminium, nickel, lead, and tin all were up. Copper hit a new record high of $5,333 per tonne before slipping back to $5,323.5 later on, a gain of $13.5 for the day. Prices were up on a strike at a northern Mexican mine and on lower inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses. Zinc was up to $2,628 during the day, only $2 shy of the record price set on Monday.